Bangkok

With Mum and Dad's visit to Thailand upcoming, I got around to finally uploading photos from Pete and Ally's trip in May this year. They had 3 weeks here. Together we visited Bangkok (avoiding the red-shirt protests, but not curfews), Chiang Mai and Kanchanaburi. At the end they went to Koh Samui and a couple of nights in Singapore. Maybe I'll add more about some things we did later, but for now check out the photos.

On Wednesday I was at Sukhothai Hotel in Bangkok to be interviewed for the daily English talk show Morning Talk. I spoke about the IT and Computer Science activities at SIIT, including some of the interesting topics we teach (mobile Java applications, BitTorrent), the National Software Contest (NSC), and the scholarship opportunities. In the NSC this year two of our groups one prizes - one for a Thai Wikipedia question answer system, and the other for a mobile application that speaks messages sent to the phone (good for driving or for people that have trouble reading).

Before the interview I had a 10 minute chat with the host, Kipsan Beck, before we got into the recorded discussion. I was pretty nervous so don't remember much of what I said - but the hotel looked nice! You can watch the full interview online now or try to download from the Maxnet site (Episode from Monday 23 March 2009).

On Constitution Day (10 December), I drove Ahe, Ann, Maew and Philippe to Safari World in the outskirts of Bangkok. We spent the entire day there, most of which was walking around the zoo and viewing the shows held throughout the day. Towards the end we drove around the open-air zoo. I had been to Safari World before, but only had time to do the open-air zoo then.

Although its a long day, I really enjoyed Safari World and recommend others take a visit. Being a public holiday, it was quite busy, but you only really noticed that when the shows were on. The shows we saw were: Sea lions, Dolphins and Beluga Whales, Cowboys, and the Bird Show. There were a couple that we missed as well. All the shows were entertaining and appeared very professional. In between the shows we wandered around looking at the large selection of animals.

Entry was a bit steep (420 Baht) but given the selection of shows, animals and the whole place was well-run, it was ok for a day of entertainment.

Photo Gallery

On Wednesday I attended the NTC Scholarship ceremony in Phayathai, where Jirawat Thaenthong received funding for the remainder of his studies. I am Jirawat's advisor for his PhD studies on mobile networking. The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) is the telecommunications regulator in Thailand, and in the past year set up the Telecommunications Research and Industrial Developmenent Institute (TRIDI) to fund research in the field. One of the first areas of funding was scholarships. Jirawat was one of the 22 recipients (7 PhD, 15 Masters) from across Thailand. Well done, Jirawat!

I've had two run ins with the law since buying my car in April. My first traffic infringement was on a Sunday trip to Lop Buri with Brenton and friends.

On the previous Wednesday night I had noticed my front license plate was missing - stolen! Some background: when you buy a new car in Thailand you get issued with temporary red license plates. These are until the dealership completes your registration documents, which could take between 2 and 4 weeks (so they say). Then you are supposed to get the official white license plates. There are all sorts of rumoured restrictions on the red plates (cannot drive at night with red plates; cannot drive to other provinces; must record a log book of all trips) but I didn't listen to any of them.

I'd had the red plates for 4 or 5 weeks when I noticed the front plate missing. About a day or two earlier I had noticed the front plate was not attached too well. I wasn't sure if it had always been like that or had become loose. I didn't do anything about it, thinking I'll be getting my new white plates soon. On the Wednesday night the plate was gone. Closer inspection revealed it had been pulled or jimmied off. Some of the plastic on the front panel had been broken so the plate would come off easier. What do I do - report it stolen to the police? Or just forget about it and get new red plates? Or wait for the white plates? Well I thought I'd see the car dealer the next day to get advice.

Unfortunately, it wasn't easy explaining the situation to the Toyota dealer. When I arrived and said something about red plates, they immediately assumed I was asking about where are my white plates? So they start telling me a few excuses for the delays, and said the white plates will arrive next week. It took me a bit of effort to explain that wasn't my immediate concern - what do I do about the stolen red plate? The conclusion was: don't worry about it. Drive around with just one plate until I get the white plates next week. They will fix the hole where the plate attaches for free. Oh, and I will lose half of my 2000 Baht deposit (for not returning one of the red plates).

So a couple of days later, Saturday, and only two days before receiving the white plates, I'm driving on the Expressway from Mo Chit to Rangsit heading to Lop Buri. I come to one of the toll gates, a common place for police to pull people over for all sorts of things (speeding, invalid registrations, no license plates). And of course the pulled me over. After the first cop realised I didn't speak Thai he got his mate, who then explained that its illegal to drive without a license plate and he'd write me a ticket and I'd need to pay at a 500 Baht fine at the local Police Station. Having heard from my friends what to do in such a situation, I said could I pay now? After some spluttering he said ok. I got out 300 Baht and he politely reached in through the window and slipped it into his pocket. I got the hell out of there. The biggest concern was getting stopped again during the day - that was 30km's into a 300km trip.

The next occasion was much simpler. I did a left turn onto a two lane side road and wanted to enter the 3 lane main highway. So I did. However just as I entered, behind a wall (of a U-turn bridge) were a couple of boys in brown pulling people over for changing lanes across a solid white line. Fair enough. This time I offered up 100 Baht, but he said 200. I'm slowly learning.

So they are my two infringements so far, costing a total of 500 Baht and avoiding any tickets and trips to Police Stations. Both cases (against me) were valid, so I've got nothing to complain about. Of course I'm very nervous when seeing police on the road now, especially as they wait at toll gates waving cars down. Lets see how I go over the next 6 months.

Wan was visiting Bangkok over the past week, so I took the opportunity to get out and about, both to some new places around Bangkok as well as back to some visited too long ago.

Photo Gallery

Wat Phra Keow

This area is the main tourist destination in Bangkok, and for good reason. Many excellent buildings, the emerald Buddha and royal palace. It was hot with plenty of tourists, but definitely worth a second visit.

Wat Pho

The giant reclining Buddha is the star attraction here, but I took more notice of the maze of pagodas and buildings around the complex this time. This is a good place to walk around for an hour or two (bring an umbrella), then eat across the road at one of the small street restaurants and finally get a massage.

The Wat Pho massage is well known, mainly because they have classes for learning how to massage. I had a body massage which was ok, but not as good as Hua Hin, nor Zeer Rangsit. At 360 Baht it is bit on the expensive side as well.

Saxophone: Jazz Bar and Restaurant

A few of my friends go to Saxophone quite often, so I figured I would check it out. Its a farang-oriented jazz place at Victory Monument. Its got a nice dark pub atmosphere (similar to English/Irish pubs in Australia), some ok food, good music and plenty of cocktails. As you may expect for this combination, its a bit pricey, but worth a visit. Apparently it gets very crowded after 10pm on Friday and Saturday nights.

Cowboy House

An outdoor pub/restaurant in Klong Luang, Pathumthani, about 5 minutes taxi ride from Thammasat Rangsit. Has some good food, beer and often a guy playing popular English songs on guitar. Almost opposite the nightclub/restaurant/live band place which I think is called Bang Pleeng.

Talad Thai

I have been 3 or 4 times already. This time we went about 6am and bought some prawns to cook for breakfast. I must go more often, as it takes about an hour (and 80 baht) to go there, buy some food and get back to my room. It will be even more convenient when I get my car ...

Buddhamonthon

Also known as Phutthamonthon, this is a large religious site and park in Nakhon Pathom, with the main attraction being the 16 metre standing bronze gold Buddha. The park is very nice, and there is supposed to be some excellent flower gardens somewhere (I think they had just been removed when I went). We caught a taxi there, which is a problem because its such a large park that you need a bicycle (there are none for hire) or car to cover all of it. Although there was a cafeteria, I recommend going with a picnic hamper.

Don Whai Riverside Market

After wandering around Buddhamonthon, we went to the nearby Don Whai Riverside Market. It was a very popular market, selling a mostly fresh food, snacks and small knick-knacks. We went on a 1 hour boat tour up the river, viewing some of the riverside homes (both old style and new three storey houses), eating fresh ice cream and feeding some fish. There are some restaurants on the river, and duck is a speciality.

Mot, Bobo and I took a trip to the main zoo in Bangkok on the weekend, Dusit Zoo. Its not a big zoo, and there aren't many star attractions compared to some other international zoos (San Diego Zoo comes to my mind), but it is quite nice. There is a good range of animals: the big cats, giraffes and elephants, kangaroos, snakes, birds, and so on.

Perhaps the best thing about the zoo is the relaxing atmosphere. We arrived about 11am and there was plenty of people about, although not crowded. Most people hired or brought an outdoor mat and spent the day lazing around, eating picnic food, and occasionally looking at the exhibits. It certainly is a nice place to spend a relaxing day with family and friends. Entry price was 50 Baht (I think 100 Baht for foreigners not living in Thailand).

Check out the photo gallery. Its my first with the new camera - as you will see, I still need a lot of practice!

After the zoo, we went into the Siam Square for dinner at the popular Thai Restaurant, Som Tam Nua, for some delicious Isaan food.

Today I went to Rot Fai Park with Khun Ahe, Maew and Ping. Actually we first went to a Buddhist temple around Chiang Rak (a few km from Thammasat Rangsit) at 8am. I like Buddhist religious activities. Sure we had to get up early to go, but the ceremonial part took about 10 minutes, and it was pretty much private (5 to 10 people). Then we did exciting stuff (for religious ceremonies): released some turtles and eels into the nearby canal. Maybe its time to change from an apathetic agnostic to a buddhist ...

After some breakfast, we drove into Rot Fai Park, which is behind Jatujak Park (and Jatujak Market, one of the biggest markets in the world). At Rot Fai Park you can hire a bicycle for 20 Baht, and then ride around the many tracks. There's plenty of food places and the Bangkok Butterfly place. It was good Sunday fun. Once we worked up an appetite we headed over to Jatajuk Market for a lunch and some shopping (well at least looking). This place is massive! I've been there two times now, and bought a few small things. But I really need to go back with an intention to buy more stuff. With 10,000 shops, they have everything!

Khun Ahe is the photographer amongst us, so she has some great pics of Rot Fai Park and surrounds.

Wow! Christmas again! Luckily the people at SIIT Bangkadi had been good this year and Santa Claus visited again. However he had a "wardrobe malfunction" in front of a dozen girls and is currently in search of any unofficial photographic evidence of the visit. Please send an email if you know of any photos.

As for me, since Brenton and his mates from Japan were in town, I had a traditional English Christmas dinner of prawn cocktail, turkey and mashed spuds, Christmas pudding and minced fruit pies. Dodgy Western food all for the ridiculous price of 1000 Baht. Check out the photos in the gallery.

The most questions I get from friends in Australia (and elsewhere) are along the lines: How is the weather in Thailand? And from Thai's here, one of the first questions they ask after meeting you is Do you like the weather in Thailand? Whatever I answer, most people do not fully comprehend, especially those:

• Australians and others that are used to seasons (Summer, Autumn/Fall, Winter, Spring), and haven't spent an extended period in South-east Asia
• Thai's that bring out the jackets, long trousers and scarves during "winter" when the minimum temperature drops to 20°C

So maybe some facts and figures will help explain the difference in weather between Thailand (Bangkok) and Australia (Mt Gambier and Adelaide). Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia, and is where I worked and lived for 12 years. Mt Gambier is where I grew up, and most of my family still live. It is about 500 km south of Adelaide, and known to be much cooler and wetter than Adelaide. The state of South Australia is the driest state in the driest (inhabited) continent on Earth.

The following table summarises the average maximum temperature, average minimum temperature, and yearly rainfall for the three locations. On average, Bangkok is about 10°C hotter than the locations in Australia! However, this is the average over the year - Australia has same extremely hot temperatures during summer. In Adelaide there 5 to 10 days per year with the temperature above 40°C. The most recent hottest day I recall was 46°C! In Bangkok, it seldom (if ever) reaches 40°C.

The difference in rainfall is also significant: Bangkok is twice as wet as Mt Gambier, and three times as wet as Adelaide. In short, when it rains in Thailand, it rains a lot!

The follow graphs show some more detail of the temperature and rainfall on a monthly basis. This is good for illustrating the difference between seasons.

In Bangkok, it is warm to hot all year. And the overnight temperature hardly drops below 20°C. The only respite you get is around December. This year (2007), there was about 2 weeks of "winter" when I actually felt cold when getting out of bed in the morning. One night I walked outside at 10pm in shorts and t-shirt and had a slight feeling of coldness. But this "winter" was brief (mid-December) - I am back sleeping with an air-conditioner on.

In Mt Gambier and Adelaide, the seasons are more pronounced: hot in summer, cold in winter. Even in summer you get cooler temperatures overnight. Another comparison: I guess I have slept without air-conditioning in Bangkok for about 20 days per year. In Adelaide, it was about half that many days when I slept with the air-conditioning on.

Although the temperature does not distinguish seasons in Bangkok, the rainfall does. A wet season (May to November) and a dry season.

In summary, although the weather is a lot different to that which I am used to in Australia, I cope well with it in Thailand. I actually like the warm weather, and am dreading going back to Mt Gambier in March 2008 (which may contain some 40+ days) and having to get out the jeans and jumpers.

Source of weather data: Australian Bureau of Meteorology and BBC.